


Witnesses

by yourekindof_weird



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Underage, M/M, Minor Eddie Brock/Venom Symbiote, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Protective Tony Stark, Sam Wilson is So Done, Trans Character, Trans Peter Parker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-02
Updated: 2019-01-02
Packaged: 2019-10-02 19:15:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17269514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yourekindof_weird/pseuds/yourekindof_weird
Summary: Venom eats somebody in New York with Captain America and the Black Widow as witnesses. The two Avengers get the drop on Eddie and Venom, knocking them out and taking them to the Avengers Compound. As it turns out, the person that Venom ate is somebody from Peter Parker’s past.





	Witnesses

**Author's Note:**

> IMPORTANT: In the movie, it’s never really specified why Eddie left New York. In the comics it’s because of a villain named Sin-Eater and something with Spider-Man, but I decided to change the story for the sake of timelines and plot, so in this, Peter wasn’t Spider-Man yet when Eddie left NY to go to San Francisco, and the reason Eddie went to San Francisco was to be with Anne (who was moving because of her lawyer job).

Eddie Brock is glad to be back in New York. He doesn’t regret going to San Francisco to be with Anne, but it would be a lie to say that he didn’t miss New York. Now, although he is in good terms with Anne, he decided to return to New York. After his article about the Life Foundation was published, his standing is a great investigative reporter was re-established. 

Eddie is also enjoying introducing Venom to New York City. It’s very different to San Francisco. Unfortunately, Eddie has to talk Venom out of eating every single person that bumps into them in the crowded streets.

They’re walking through the hallway to their apartment after a trip to the grocery store when Venom jerks them to a stop. “What is it, love?” Eddie questions. 

**_Bad guy._ **

“What? Where?” Eddie looks around, confirming that they are, in fact, alone in this hallway. 

**_In there._ **

A small tendril of Venom comes out of Eddie’s shoulder, pointing to one of the doors in the hallway. “In there?”

**_I can hear crying._ **

“That doesn’t mean there’s a bad guy,” Eddie says, “Somebody might just be watching a sad movie. Come on.” He starts to walk again, it’s only a few steps to their apartment, but Venom stops them again. 

**_Listen._ **

Eddie sighs, but does as Venom says anyway. No use taking more time to fight with him. He walks up to the door and listens.

“Please,” it sounds like a child, “Stop it! Stop!”

“Shut up,” a much older man says. And then the noises. Shit. Eddie takes a moment to thank whoever made the walls in this apartment building paper thin, or else Venom may never have heard what was happening behind that door.

Eddie doesn’t even have to  _ think  _ anything before Venom is taking over, enveloping Eddie completely, and kicking the door open, groceries long forgotten in the hallway. What Eddie sees next makes his blood boil. A white haired man, well into his twenties, is sexually assaulting a kid that looks no older than ten. He’s glad that Venom is in control and has learned enough from his time on earth to move the kid away from the man before doing anything. If it were Eddie, he would have gone straight for the man, but there’s a kid here who is already traumatized enough as it is. Before Venom can do anything, though, the white-haired man is pulling out a gun. That wouldn’t usually be a problem, seeing as Venom is basically bulletproof, but there’s a kid here and this cramped apartment has ample means for stray bullets to ricochet. 

_ Kid first, Venom _ . 

**_But I want to eat the bad guy._ **

_ Get the kid out first! _

**_Fine_ ** **.**

With that, Venom is grabbing the kid and jumping out the (closed) window, glass spraying everywhere. Venom grabs onto the side of the building and brings them to the rooftops so they can get away. 

_ Bring the kid to the police station. Take a right here. _

Eddie gives Venom directions to the station and when they arrive Venom drops down into an alley, sets the kid down, and retreats back into Eddie. Eddie then picks up the kid and rushes into the police station. 

He explains to the police that he heard what was happening and managed to get the kid out (not mentioning Venom’s role in all of this). As it turns out, the kid’s mother is a policewoman at that very precinct. She bursts into tears and thanks Eddie profusely for saving her child. Through tears, she explains that the man, Steven, is the son of one of her friends. She had asked him to look after her kid for the week while she is at work and her husband (who usually works from home) is on a business trip. 

By the time the police (and Eddie) get back to the apartment building, Steven is long gone. Eddie curses, but knows that getting the police involved was needed. It also looks like Steven stole Eddie’s groceries. 

**_I wanted to eat him_ ** . Venom tells Eddie once they’ve finally gotten into their own apartment.

“I know you did, but we needed to help the kid first, Vee.”

**_Chocolate? To make up for it?_ **

“Fine.”

…

The next day, Eddie makes his way back to the grocery store. He’s still bitter that his groceries went missing.

**_Eddie_ ** .

_ What?  _ Eddie has gotten used to talking to Venom in his head instead of out loud while they’re in public.

**_I can smell him_ ** .

_ Who? _

**_The guy from Yesterday._ **

Eddie stops moving.  _ The guy from Yesterday? The one we saved the kid from? Steven? _

**_Yes_ ** .

“Where?” Eddie growls angrily, looking around and trying to catch a glimpse of Steven’s white hair. 

**_There_ ** **,** Venom says at the same time that Eddie spots him. The man is walking towards them quickly, head down. Eddie ducks into an alleyway and waits. When Steven passes the opening, a tendril of Venom bursts out of Eddie and drags the pedophile into the alleyway. Within seconds, Eddie’s face gets covered as Venom takes over. Steven tries to make a run for it, but Venom is faster, and swallows him whole. A moment later, Eddie is left standing in Venom’s place and there is no evidence that Steven was ever there.

“Hey!” Eddie startles at the voice coming from the mouth of the alleyway. A woman with red fiery hair is standing there, looking defensive. A witness.

**_Can we eat her?_ **

_ No! I don’t know! Not yet. _

“Killing people isn’t nice,” the woman says. Before Eddie can respond, there’s a sharp pain in the back of his head. As he starts to fall, the thing that hit him, a round disk (oh my god is that Captain America’s shield?), hits the wall beside him, making a loud  _ clang _ sound that’s rather painful to Venom (and consequently, Eddie). Eddie hits the ground, hard, and falls out of consciousness. 

…

Eddie wakes up in what looks like a police interrogation room.  _ Venom?  _

**_Where are we?_ **

_ I don’t know.  _

Eddie takes in his surroundings. The room is just off-white, like a very light grey. On the wall in front of Eddie is some one-way glass in which Eddie can see how much he looks like shit. Getting hit in the head and falling onto alleyway pavement does that to you. The wall with the glass also has a door on it. The rest of the walls are completely blank. Eddie himself is sitting on a plastic chair, handcuffed to a table. If push comes to shove, Venom can easily break the handcuffs and the glass to escape.

Eddie’s eyes are drawn to the door as it opens. 

**_Who are they?_ **

“Holy shit,” Eddie says. Tony Stark and the Black Widow are standing in front of him. Stark sits down opposite Eddie while the Black Widow stays standing behind him. It registers that the woman from the alleyway was probably the Black Widow herself, which means he really  _ had  _ been knocked out by Captain America’s shield. 

“Right,” Stark says, “I’m Tony, that’s Nat, and she and Cap say you ate someone.”

“Natasha,” the Black Widow corrects.

“Where are we?” Eddie asks. It takes him a second to realize he said  _ we _ , as in Venom and him, but luckily Stark seems to take it as Eddie, Natasha, and him.

“The Avengers Compound,” Stark says, “Are you going to explain yourself, Brock?”

They know who he is. Great. “I-uh. I didn’t eat anyone?” It comes out like a question.

**_Idiot._ **

Stark taps his watch and a projection comes out of it. Security footage of Eddie turning into Venom and eating Steven plays.

“Try again,” Stark says.

“That alley has cameras?” Eddie says.

“You ate somebody outside of a Jeweler,” Natasha says, “Of course there are cameras.”

_ Really?  _

**_Don’t blame me. You chose that place._ **

_ Fuck off. _

“So,” Stark says, “Mind telling us what that thing you turned into is?”

It doesn’t take a genius to know that trying to escape is a horrible idea. They’re in the Avengers Compound, basically the middle of nowhere, and the actual Avengers are here. Iron Man and the Black Widow are in here with them, and Eddie is willing to bet that Captain America is on the other side of that one way glass. Plus, they also have the Hulk and an actual  _ God. _

“I have a parasite?”   
**_You take that back!_ **

“A man-eating parasite?” Stark questions.

“Yes?”

“You don’t sound so sure,” Natasha says. 

_ Shit _ .

**_You’re bad at this._ **

_ These guys are the Avengers! _

**_You’re still bad at this._ **

“Okay,” Eddie says, “So he’s more of an alien.”

“He?” Stark probes.

**_I’ve got this._ **

_ What? No! _ _   
_ But it’s too late. Venom doesn’t take over, just comes out of Eddie’s back a little so his head is floating beside Eddie’s.

“ **We are Venom** ,” Stark flinches, but Natasha doesn’t look the least bit fazed.

“What the fuck!” Stark says, “Is he  _ in  _ you? Do you need us to take him out?”   
“No!” Eddie shouts, standing up. It doesn’t work very well, though, since he’s still very much handcuffed to the table. Natasha suddenly has a gun trained on him, so he sits down again slowly. Where the hell did that gun even come from? “No. We, um, we’d rather not be separated.”

“ **We only eat bad guys. Eddie doesn’t let us eat good ones** **_._ ** ”

“And the guy you just ate in that alleyway was a bad guy?” Natasha asks, skepticism clear in her voice and posture. The gun isn’t on them anymore, but she still has it out.

Eddie doesn’t have a chance to respond, because a voice is suddenly sounding throughout the room.

“Sir? I have finished running facial recognition for the second man in the video,” the voice says.

“Thanks Friday,” Stark says. He turns his attention back to Eddie, “One moment.”

Then, Stark and Natasha are leaving the room again.

**_That went well_ ** .

_ Shut up. _

…

When Steve and Natasha came back from a walk with a man they said had turned into a big monster and eaten somebody, Tony Stark didn’t know whether to be angry (cannibalism) or ecstatic (science!). Talking with the guy was… weird. And that alien thing. What the fuck?

“Alright Fri,” Tony says, “Who did, uh,  _ Venom _ eat?” 

The room outside of the interrogation room had chairs all around it and screens on one of the walls. Steve, Sam, and Peter were watching the interrogation from behind the glass. Steve was leaning against the side wall, gazing into the interrogation room. Sam was sitting back in one of the chairs, and Peter was basically pressed up against the glass. 

“The man in the security footage was Steven Westcott,” Friday explains, “At age twenty he was incarcerated for the sexual assault of Vivianne Parker. Westcott was seventeen and Parker was eight when the assault occurred. Westcott was imprisoned for three years before being released at the age of twenty-three. He was twenty-five years old when he died.” 

“Jesus Christ,” Sam says.

“Three years?” Steve adds, “That’s it?”

Tony can’t even bring himself to be angry with Eddie Brock/Venom for eating the guy anymore. 

“Peter?” Natasha says. Tony’s eyes snap to Peter, who has gone stock-still. There are tears forming in the kids eyes. Tony rushes to comfort him, but Peter flinches away from the hug, something he has never done before. 

“Pete?” Tony whispers.

“Parker,” Steve says suddenly, like he’s come to a realization, “Vivianne Parker.”

“Peter,” Tony says again, “Do you know who Vivianne Parker is? Is she a relative of yours?”

“No!” Peter almost shouts. His own shout seems to snap him out of it, because suddenly he’s throwing himself at Tony, tears flowing freely down his face. 

It takes of few minutes, but finally Peter is calm enough to explain. He sits down in one of the chairs and heaves a big sigh. “He went by Skip. Skip Westcott. May used to accidentally say  _ Wescott _ ,” the kid looks so  _ terrified _ and Tony just wants to hug him all over again. “I met him when I was eight. He was nice to me. Called me  _ Einstein. _ ” 

Tony does not like where this is going. He lowers himself into a chair, watching Peter carefully.

“I- I was Vivianne, then. Well, no. I’ve always been Peter,” he says, “But people used to call me Vivianne. I’m trans. I can’t believe I didn’t recognize him in the video,” and with that, Peter is crying again, though he stays on the chair, curling in on himself.

If Venom hadn’t already eaten the guy, Tony would have killed him. It looks like the other Avengers in the room agree. 

“Can I talk to him?” Peter asks seven minutes later. He had stopped crying and the Avengers had assured him that they didn’t care that he was trans and that what happened with Westcott was not his fault and was nothing to be ashamed of.

“Hm?” Tony hums in question.

“Eddie Brock, and uh, Venom, I guess,” Peter clarifies.

“Why?” Steve asks.

“To, um, thank him?” Peter says, “Not because I condone killing but… Venom said they only killed bad guys and if they killed Skip, I don’t know, maybe they knew?”

“Yeah, yeah okay,” Tony says, “But I’m going in with you.”

“I’m coming too,” Steve says. Sam also steps forward.

“Come on then, boys,” Natasha says, opening the door and stepping through. 

…

Eddie is annoyed and bored. Venom had retreated back into him a few minutes after the Avengers had left the room, though not before getting a small kiss from Eddie. Now, it’s probably been half an hour since they left. 

**_I’m hungry._ **

_ We just ate an entire person, Vee. _

**_I’m hungry again._ **

_ What do you want me to do about it? _ _   
_ **_You’ll figure something out._ **

But then the door starts to open, and Natasha steps into the room, followed by not only Tony Stark, but also Captain America, the Falcon, and… a kid?

The kid takes one look at Eddie before he’s rushing toward him and-

**_He is hugging us. That is a sign of affection, right?_ **

_ Yeah, Vee, it is. _

“Um,” Eddie says out loud. 

“How did you know he was a bad guy,” the kid asks once he’s pulled away from the hug. The Avengers are standing at the back of the room and Eddie suspects they are poised to take action should he and Venom try to do anything to the kid.

“He, uh…” Eddie says. The kid is looking at him expectantly, “He was babysitting for my neighbour. Venom heard something through the door. The guy, Steven, was raping a kid.”

“He did it again…” the kid says, though it’s barely audible. It didn’t take long for Eddie to put two and two together. That guy had hurt this kid too. 

“That’s why you, er, Venom, ate him?” the Falcon says. 

“ **Yes,** ” Venom had managed to materialize out of Eddie’s back without Eddie noticing, “ **We only eat bad guys. And chocolate.”**

“Brains and chocolate have the same chemical that Venom needs,” Eddie explains, though he is still focusing on the kid, who had retreated back to standing near Stark. Stark nudges Captain America and they have what seems like a silent conversation. Then, the Captain nods and steps forward.

“Peter,” he must be addressing the kid, “I bet Bucky’s cookies are out of the oven now, why don’t you come with me to see. I’m sure Buck will let you have a whole tray of them to yourself.”

The kid, Peter, perks up, though his scared demeanor never leaves. Nevertheless, he follows Captain America out of the room.

“Murder is illegal,” Stark says. Eddie sighs. God, how are they going to get out of this?

**_We could eat them._ ** Venom doesn’t actual voice the threat out loud, though.

“No!” Eddie shouts, which startles the three remaining Avengers.

“Um, I’m pretty sure it is, actually,” the Falcon says.

“No, I mean,” Eddie sighs and looks at Venom’s head, which is still coming out of his back, “We are  _ not  _ going to eat the Avengers, Venom. They’re  _ good  _ guys.”

Stark and the Falcon look mildly worried, though Natasha just rolls her eyes. 

**“Fine.”**

“As I was saying,” Stark says, “Murder is illegal, but Steven Westcott hurt Peter.”

“If you hadn’t killed him,” Natasha butts in, “I would have.”

This Peter kid must be really important to the Avengers, for some reason, because Stark and the Falcon are nodding along to Natasha’s statement. Weird.

**_It is not weird. We like Peter, too._ **

“Uh?” Eddie says.

**_Eloquent._ **

_ Dick. _

“So, if you promise not to eat people unless absolutely necessary, and you said chocolate should work, I think you can go,” Stark says, “Unless your alien friend is planning on taking over the world, in which case we will have to do something about that.”

“ **My kind was trying to, but we stopped them.** ”

“Ah,” Stark says thoughtfully, “Was that what happened with the Life Foundation, then?”

“Yeah,” Eddie says, rubbing the back of his neck.

“ **And Eddie is not my friend-”**

“Wait Vee-!”

“ **He is my boyfriend.** ”

The Falcon, who had been making his way to the door, stops in his tracks, “He’s what?”

**Author's Note:**

> I hate making Peter sad. I hope you understood the whole bold/italics thing. Thank you for reading!


End file.
